Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent emergency surgery this morning to remove a section of his large intestine. Doctors pronounced the operation a success.
Dr Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director of Hadassah Hospital, said doctors removed about 50 centimetres, or 20 inches, of Sharon’s intestine after an abdominal scan revealed damage to the area. He said the section amounted to about one third of the intestine.
Mor-Yosef said Sharon was in critical but stable condition after the procedure, adding there is “no immediate danger to his life.”
It was the seventh surgery for the 77-year-old leader since he suffered a devastating stroke on January 4. He has been in a coma since then, attached to breathing and feeding tubes.
Sharon was taken to the operating theatre at about 11 am local time, and surgery began some time after that.
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Sharon’s sons, Omri and Gilad, rushed to the hospital this morning. Later, Sharon confidant Dov Weissglass, bureau chief Ilan Cohen and adviser Lior Horev arrived.
Israel’s political system has been surprisingly stable despite the sudden disappearance of the nation’s most popular politician from the scene and even though elections are just six weeks away. Sharon’s deputy, Ehud Olmert, quickly took over, both as acting prime minister and leader of Sharon’s new centrist party, Kadima, which has held steady in the polls.
The health of the overweight Israeli leader first became an issue in December when he suffered a minor stroke. Two weeks later, he was to check in to Hadassah for a minor heart procedure.
On January 4, the eve of that procedure, he suffered a massive stroke. Since then, he had unconscious and critical, but stable, undergoing occasional brain scans to check whether there was bleeding or swelling in the brain.
His doctors have come under fire from critics who questioned whether Sharon should have been treated with massive doses of anticoagulants after his first stroke, which was caused by a small blood clot in a cranial artery.
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Doctors admitted that the anticoagulants made it more difficult for them to stop the bleeding from the later haemorrhagic stroke.
The extensive bleeding and the lengthy operations Sharon underwent to stop it have led experts to conclude that he must have suffered severe brain damage and was unlikely to regain consciousness. If he does awaken, most say, the chances of his regaining meaningful cognition or activity are slim.